moments
by alpacaKurisutinu
Summary: Little Princess Sarada Uchiha has been treasured since day zero. (five part collection of drabbles)
1. close your eyes

was meant to be oneshot, but i split it up sorry

part one of new years spam! enjoy

(no angst this time i swear to god this will be beautiful and happy)

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There cannot be anything more beautiful in this world than watching your husband and new born child embrace, Sakura thinks, as she lies lifelessly on the hospital bed. The spark of wonder in Sasuke's eyes as he gazed down at baby Sarada would become quickly something she'd never forget in her lifetime. And yet, as she drowned in the love that filled the room the very moment their child came to earth, Sakura could not help but feel a tinge of pain in her heart.

The very moment in which Sasuke first holds Sarada, she knows their new bond is something she cannot interrupt, nor ever join. For Sasuke who 'family', has been engrained into everything, his first child will become light that re-kindles the flame of the Uchiha Clan.

Sakura has no place in the Uchiha's.

The new mother can only watch as Sasuke and Sarada share their first moments.

Tears which gather in her eyes threaten to fall, but she holds them back with a steel will for a woman who had just given birth. Still, Sakura isn't sure if the tears are because her heart is bursting with joy for Sasuke's redemption - or whether if it's the fact that Sakura is an outsider to this blood bond.

So when Sakura slowly beings to drift asleep, it comes to her utmost surprise when her fuzzy eyes watch as Sasuke break the eye contact with his child and turn to his wife. Displaying a proud smile and quiet whisper of "Look at our daughter, Sakura.", she knows her doubts had been utterly wrong. She falls asleep with the last thought lingering in her head,

_no - Sakura, Sasuke, Sarada, their moments were 'together' now._

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thanks for the support!


	2. timelessly

She should be used to it by now.

Sasuke goes in and out of the village, and has always been going in and out of the village ever since the past few years of their courtship and marriage. For work, for travels, for self-identity, whatever the reasons taken, Sakura understands the action and never tries to restrict his soul. Whereas her soul is willingly bound to Konoha, for it has been her home and her entire life, for Sasuke, Konoha is merely a name and exploration is a breath to his soul. And yet despite their two distinctly different needs, it works together in harmony.

But the very first time Sasuke leaves after Sarada is born, is the hardest one for Sakura yet. He looks at her with understanding eyes as she stands at the gates, clutching Sarada in one hand, and holding the baby's hand in the another to wave at her father together. With the way he stared into Sarada's petite sleeping face everyday, Sakura could not fathom why he would willingly miss the first few months of their child's life. Sakura knows for sure, as she smiles at the gurgling baby in her arms - that she would never even think about doing the same. However their sweet love making the night before reassures her that Sasuke knew what he was doing, and she could only trust him like she did when they were 12, so, so, so long ago.

And so when a sleepy Sakura is juggling both paperwork and a crying baby - the sight of Sasuke stepping into their house with a quiet "tadaima" almost seems like a hallucination.

"Sasuke-kun?"

She murmurs to the air, confused and tired at 3am on a Monday morning.

"Yes Sakura, it's me."

Her husband flashes into her arms within seconds, and kisses her on the forehead. It finally occurs to her, that Sasuke is real. Which almost feels wrong, because he is much too early. In fact, her cloudy brain registers that he is weeks earlier than his average trips and it only feels like yesterday since he left them at the village gates.

"Sasu-" Sakura's voice almost raises in confusion, until her eyes race over the package Sasuke had dropped on the way to her desk.

Fallen admist the carpet was a brown bag left wide open, tumbling out with treasures that seemed to be more than what Sasuke had ever collected on any trip. From her squinting eyes she could almost make out masses of baby toys, baby clothes, parenting equipment and whatever new technology that seemed to not have reached Konoha yet. It all clicks in her mind as she feels once again, helpless to the overwhelming tears prickling in her eyes.

"Okaeri,_ Sasuke-kun."_

His smile is all she sees as she begins to drift asleep in the gentle arms of her husband. A quiet murmur of "Go to sleep Sakura, I'll take over now." reassures her as she finally blacks out. Sakura doesn't remember being carried into their bedroom, but when she tumbles out of bed the next morning - she is sure that nothing, but the sight of Sasuke entertaining Sarada with a new toy, could make her smile any broader.

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my cold soul cannot resist slipping in angst into everything i write

NEXT CHAPTER IS PURE FLUFF N HUMOR I PINKY PROMISE

thanks for the support! ^_^


	3. daily shenanigans

Today was Sunday. And Sundays for the Uchiha family, meant grocery shopping day. The new parents, packed with domestic gear from baby trolleys to shopping trolleys, headed out together. After a quick check from Sakura, both her husband and child were good to go. She gave a fleeting smile as she motioned for the family to take off.

"Sakura."

Said person paused in her step.

"Yes Sasuke-kun?"

"You forgot your hat."

The new mother was so immersed into her family that she had forgotten about herself.

Sasuke proceeded to wordlessly pull the hat on top of Sakura's pink hair as she giggled with a quiet 'whoops'. The family finally, set off once again.

Konoha's Sunday Market was bustling as the trio also participated in the mayhem. Sakura almost began to dazzle as she grabbed fruits and vegetables that were on sale. Afterall, feeding a family of three did not allow the thoughtless spending she used to do when she was single. With a murmur from behind, Sasuke worded his input too.

"Tomatoes..."

No reply.

"Please."

His wife finally turned around and smiled.

"Already got them!" she said as she held up a bag of ripe tomatoes.

Sakura pushed new bags of food into Sasuke's arms as he expertly juggled groceries and a baby. It never failed to amuse her as she watched him balance both duties. Sometimes it was a reminder that all ninjas like them led a normal life. With a pat of encouragement, Sakura turned her heel.

"Stay here, I'm going to quickly grab something!" she yelled without looking back.

Sasuke watched his wife bounce across the street and into another stall. She grabbed a familiar item without looking twice and was about to pay when she was stopped. His watching with relative interest, suddenly became watching with serious murder intentions.

Sakura was being chatted up by random men.

Although Sasuke should have been known for his looks more so than Sakura, his popularity had quietened down as he got married. As his bachelor status was wiped, so was his fan base which dwindled to only occasional murmurs on his sigh worthy looks. His wife however, (as he had disturbingly found) had grown a large popularity over the years he was gone. Her exotic pink haired and green eyed beauty grew on her with maturity, and piled with her personality known by saving many men from the dead - Sakura's popularity had now sky rocketed over Sasuke's previous fan club. Whereas Sasuke's fan club had been solely for his looks, Sakura's fanclub was encouraged by both her looks and personality.

Within several quick strides (shopping bags and a baby did nothing to his speed), he had made his way over to his wife. Sakura's attention was immediately turned back to him, he noted with quiet pride.

"I think Sarada is hungry."

Immediately, Sakura started commanding her husband and fawning over her child - completely ignoring the strangers next to her. Sasuke smirked as the defeated men backed away from his family. Apparently they had not heard the news that Sasuke had knocked up his wife.

_Mine. _He glowered possessively, as he handed Sakura a milk bottle.

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send me a review on your thoughts!

thanks for the support everyone~ :)


	4. papa

for all your kind reviews, ive rewarded you with a slow update

holidays are ending so im a lil busy

my sincerest apologies everyone )': !

this is half unedited since i was excited to get this out asap (think i messed up the tenses) but i will be double checking tomorrow

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With quiet puffs of breath, Sakura slept soundly beside Sasuke, as he laid wide awake at 4am in the morning. Instead of trying to sleep like his wife, he was musing about her unhealthy thirteen hour shifts (and more if it required) at the hospital. In the early years of their marriage, Sakura had assured him that the long hours was nothing to her and her passion to heal made the length worthy.

But now, even he could tell juggling both work and motherhood at once was deteriorating his wife down fast, no matter how much she tried to convince him otherwise. It only encouraged Sasuke to cover for her as best as possible, even if playing the housewife role was apparently the funniest joke in the world to Naruto.

At last, the beginnings of a cry snapped Sasuke out of his thoughts, pulling him out of his warm bed immediately. His instinct told him Sarada cried almost routinely at 4am every morning, and he was right. With a last look at his dead asleep wife, he slipped away into the nursery before any more disturbance could be done.

Working methodically at the sight of the energetic baby, Sasuke wasn't phased by his sleepy grogginess nor the stench of diapers. It was more than Sarada's first few months by now, and both parents learnt their way around a child. As he fed Sarada a freshly prepared milk bottle in his arms, his mind quietly wandered off into the silent night.

It has been a while since he had travelled. By now, he muses, he would have been preparing to leave for another trip.

A fourth trip to the Snow Country? The coolness of their climate would be drastically different to the hearth of his unconsciousness, which was his noisy and sunlit house.

Or perhaps maybe somewhere smaller like the Land of Whirlpools? An escape from the calamity which was Konoha, constantly and constantly bustling with bright life.

By now, he muses, with alarming self awareness, he should have been getting restless, tingling and itching to travel once again. And yet for a reason he could not fathom, his urge to soul search was becoming less relentless and perhaps, even forgiving.

Racking his brain for explanations as to why, more ideas began to form in his head when a sudden warmth bloomed in the tip of his finger.

Sarada was grabbing his pinky with all the tiny strength that a baby could muster.

All previous thoughts of travelling was temporarily abandoned as he shared a small smile for his daughter. Lovingly kissing her forehead a private and unseen goodnight, the father left the room with his daughter asleep in her cot.

Sasuke walks into his bedroom with quiet footsteps which were trained into the core of his soul. Almost disapprovingly, he notes the way in which his wife had not even once noticed the noise around her - instead, fast asleep in her sanctuary. Perhaps in another time he would've reprimanded her with a thought that it was stupid of a ninja to sleep so soundly when a possible enemy could have killed her asleep any moment. But instead, he dismisses those thoughts, and only thinks - it was in their wedding vows to protect each other to the day they died. That was what, he supposes, he'll do instead of telling her off.

Slipping into their bed, he notes with surprise that even fast asleep, Sakura had the ability to search for her husbands body warmth. Her left hand now holding his right, Sasuke could only remember the warmth of Sarada on his left hand. What a thought.

The warmth of his wife on his right, and the warmth of his child on his left.

Surrendering his sight to the darkness, Sasuke thinks that there may be no urgent need to travel at all.

He had a home now.

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hope everyone enjoyed this chap, please review!

last chapter v soon~ D:


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